Firms See Challenges Outweighing Potential So Far In The Effort To Preserve Polk's Only Cigar Factory

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Feb 22, 2014 at 11:26 PM

Two years after Bartow rescued the abandoned Thompson Cigar factory from the wrecking ball, the city is struggling to find a developer to restore the historic building to its 1925 grandeur.

By SUZIE SCHOTTELKOTTETHE LEDGER

BARTOW | Two years after Bartow rescued the abandoned Thompson Cigar factory from the wrecking ball, the city is struggling to find a developer to restore the historic building to its 1925 grandeur.The aging structure is among the few remaining cigar factories like it in Florida, and one of only two built in the mission style. It's a building that's not only significant to Bartow, but to Polk's heritage because it's the only cigar factory remaining in the county, said Myrtice Young, the county's historic preservation manager.But all of that hasn't been enough to lure even one developer. When city administrators put out the call fordevelopers to make them an offer on renovating the site, no one answered."I was surprised," said City Manager George Long. "We had several firms express an interest before we put the proposal out, and they didn't even respond."Long said the city's timing may have been an issue when the request went out last fall. "Businesses are holding back on their cash," Long said. "They don't know what's going to happen with the market conditions. Those who are spending are spending on those things that are going to get them the greatest return for the least risk. "This is a risky venture. Development is always risky, but the risk in the market (for this project) is perceived as higher than it normally is."David Bloom is a South Carolina developer who had considered the project early on. He said the economy did have a bearing on his decision to walk away. He also said concern about the building's location, tucked away at 235 N. Third Ave., was a factor."It's got an interior location," he said, "and it could be difficult generating tourist traffic. And there probably would not be enough local patrons to support something there."

INCENTIVES AVAILABLE But Long said the city, armed with more incentives, is going back into the fray with a new request for proposals from developers. This one carries a promise that the building, now laden with the droppings of pigeons and other vermin, will be free of the contaminants that have plagued it since it was abandoned more than a decade ago. At the same time, that contamination has brought a silver lining. As a result, the building has been designated a brownfield site, which opens the door to financial incentives on the project, including low-interest loans. Brownfield sites are those that are, or may be perceived as, contaminated, and government incentives are available to encourage redevelopment of such areas. Long said he's hoping these factors will entice developers."We're optimistic," Long said. "We want to make sure we have done everything we can reasonably do to try to preserve that building and try to put it back in productive use. Hopefully, that will be the outcome."That progress needs to come sooner than later. In January 2012, city commissioners suggested they wanted renovations under way within three years, and they're now two years into that. "We can't just perpetuate this forever," Commissioner A.J. Jackson said at that time.Commissioner Pat Huff said he wants to see whether developers come forward in response to this latest proposal before throwing in the towel."Three years ago, I thought the cigar factory was a goner," he said. "I was willing to call it quits then. But now it looks like something could happen there, and we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed, I guess. "If the economy was better, I think we'd have a better chance of somebody willing to step in. But things are starting to get better, so we may be coming in at the right time to attract somebody who's willing to take it over and renovate it."He said he still has mixed feelings about the building's prospects and the city's involvement, but he's willing to continue fighting for it as long as the city is making progress."We have successfully kept it from being destroyed or demolished," he said, "and I think it would be a nice addition to the town, if we could preserve it and have that part of our history." The building dates to 1925, when the Thompson Cigar Co. was attempting to bust the trade unions in Tampa's Ybor City. It became the first mechanized cigar factory of its kind in Florida, and workers rolled cigars there for the nearly 40 years. The building fell from one owner to another after that, even briefly serving as a meeting place for civic clubs, until the county took ownership and distributed surplus food there in the 1980s.By the 1990s, the aging building became little more than a storage site for the county's surplus furniture and a refuge for stray animals.

THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESIn 2002, the Bartow Community Redevelopment Agency took the first steps toward saving it when it shepherded a successful effort to have the building listed on the National Register of Historic Places, hoping that would generate interest in restoring the structure.That didn't happen. And the hurricanes of 2004 didn't help. The deteriorating roof fell into greater disrepair and the environmental nightmare inside spiraled to dangerous levels.The county was ready to call in a demolition crew in 2009 when a group of preservationists pleaded for a reprieve. They organized a fundraising effort to begin the restoration and convinced Bartow officials to take ownership of the building, thinking the city would make a more concerted effort toward preservation than the county.In 2011, that same group lobbied to get the building listed on the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the state's most endangered sites for that year. The designation carried no funding, nor did it protect the building from demolition, but it raised awareness of the structure's plight.A year later, the city invested about $34,000, including nearly $6,000 in community donations, to seal the building and put a chain-link fence around it as protection while administrators searched for a developer to restore it. The citizens group collected another $6,000, which paid for the preparation of the request for development proposals.Since then, Bartow has secured a federal grant totaling about $115,000 to rid the factory of the environmental contaminants, including lead paint, arsenic and animal droppings. That work should be under way within the next few months, and completed in the summer, Long said. Trish Pfeiffer, who's championed saving the cigar factory, said she still believes in the project and is continuing to work toward the building's restoration."I feel it has a lot of potential," she said. "When you think about what it could be, I hate to think about tearing it down. I hate that we tear down historic buildings. The bones of this building were built very well, so it won't be that hard to rehab. There are just so many things this building could be."Earlier this year, the CRA reviewed a proposed five-year development plan that includes a park encompassing the cigar factory site. No funding has been allocated for the project, but the CRA board is considering it.To keep the cigar factory project alive, Pfeiffer said she's contacting a few developers who had expressed interest in the project three years ago to see whether she can resurrect that interest."It's taken so long to get to this point, they've moved on to other projects," she said. "I'm hoping we can convince them to take another look at the cigar factory because it would be such a shame to lose it."

[ Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. ]

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